Another sliding mechanism cell phone is released to the market, and it’s called Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro
.I’ve been experiencing many satisfying results with sliding cell phones from Sony Ericsson. Many of them look great and work tremendously well. Some of these cell phones are usually in the same series, Walkman series. Which offer a great sound quality, Walkman dedicated media player and high quality features. And now, the one called Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro is rolled out to the market also as another multimedia and music cell phone
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- Type: Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro
- Release Date: 2010, October
- Price Purchased: 29.99 Euro
- Manufacturer: Sony Ericsson
Readers' Score
NextPhones4u Score
Phone Specs: 2G network, TFT 256K color 2.2 inches, 240 x 320 pixels, 2MP camera, MIDP 2.0, 5MB internal memory, 3.5mm headphone jack, See Full specs.
- Pros
- Great sound quality | the clarity of camera is good | it's really cheap | Advanced version of Walkman Media Player 4.0
- Cons
- No 3G network, only 2G | the design is not really good, looks like a cell phone dummy | the physical buttons on the front side are too close one to another | no support of LED flash
- Bottomline
- Bottom line, for those people who are looking for sophisticated cell phone at the low price range, this phone is still a good choice. Although I have a much better alternative for this phone
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| Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro |
Design
The whole design of Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro looks pretty standard with the other slide cell phones from this manufacture. In fact, this phone runs in the same framework design with the other Walkman series, say W910i or W595i. The thing that makes this phone different with the other series is the rounded shape on each corner of device and on the front surface of the phone.
What makes this phone different with the other slide phones from this manufacture, in term of body design is the rounded shape of this phone looks fully rounded than the other slide phones, especially on the top position of device.
This fully rounded shape really gives a cute impression on the overall design and reduces the elegance look quite a lot. Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro looks just like a toy or cell phone dummy than a serious cellular. But put aside all about design aspect, this phone is still offering many awesome stuff to the end users.
Between Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro and W910i
If I want to make an appropriate comparison with Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro, I believe the Walkman series, Sony Ericsson W910i should be a perfect comparison to this phone, since it has exactly the similar design and elements. Just like I mentioned earlier, so far, all the slide cell phones that had been released under the Sony Ericsson company never sucked. They all look elegant and work great in implementation.
Sony Ericsson W910i is also included in that opinion. In the whole aspect, W910i is a really solid built cell phone. It looks elegant and fancy on the outside, and it looks sophisticated on the inside. So I believe Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro would make the same impression with W910i.
Just like any other slide cell phone from Sony Ericsson, the keypad of this phone is concealed inside the bottom sliding panel, while the main physical buttons and the D-Pad are placed on the front side of device. The D-Pad of this phone looks really solid with the circle shape. This D-Pad has also been assigned by the manufacture to navigate the Walkman media player.
Interface and Functionality
The screen of this phone supports the TFT, 256K color display. The interface of this phone looks really clean and colorful in front of our eyes. The size of 2.2 inches also makes the screen look wide and huge around the front side. Viewing anything on the screen is also convenient and pleasing with the help of screen resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, giving more accurate interface to the users.
Performance
The menu interface is pretty responsive and quick even when more than 1 application are opened. I have tried to test how fast the interface of this phone by opening 2 huge sized games, Need for Speed: Shift 3D and Need for Speed: Undercover 3D at the same time. Proven to be, operating the main menu while playing those sophisticated games is still pretty much responsive and fast without any problem at all.
Camera
On the back of device, the 2MP camera has been placed on the top position, giving the rest wide area for the battery cover. Capturing pictures with this 2MP camera can give some mediocre results, but still the photos taken are considerably good for the standard of cell phones. Unfortunately, there is no support of LED flash on this phone, so taking pictures in the dark of the night is not recommended with this phone.
Phone Specification
Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro supports some features of standard cell phone, such as: Bluetooth, USB and Flashlight. Viewing status and posting updates on your Facebook and Twitter account can be so much easier with the additional quick access of Facebook and Twitter applications. That’s too bad that this phone doesn’t support 3G network nor Wifi connection, relying only on the standard 2G network for browsing internet. But the speed of surfing internet with this phone should be standard based on what network you’re on.
Multimedia and Entertainment
Listening to music and watching videos can be so convenient with this phone, since this phone can deliver great sound quality and clear screen interface. Moreover, this phone has been supported with Loudspeaker and 3.5mm headphone jack, providing more choices for the users to listen to music and watch videos across the MP3/eAAC+/WAV player and MP4/H.263/H.264 player.
The other great things that you will get from this phone are Stereo FM radio, Track ID, and the most advanced version of Walkman media player 4.0, which provides much much better experience and quality than the previous version.
Gaming Compatibility
Just like I’ve mentioned earlier, playing some high quality java games such as: Need for Speed: Shift 3D and Undercover 3D with this phone is still convenient, especially with the support of java platform MIDP 2.0 version and multitasking function. Applications or games across the java platform can be played perfectly and smoothly with this phone. Opening 2 or more than 2 applications at the same time still doesn’t really affect the whole performance of this phone, it’s still pretty responsive.
Data Storage
When buying this phone at the phone shop, this phone comes with only 5MB internal memory without the external memory. But if you want to expand the data storage of this phone, the microSD up to 16GB is available at the nearest phone shops in your town.
Battery Life
In the real implementation, listening to music with this phone in the whole time will last around 5 – 7 hours a day. Playing games or browsing internet with this phone will also last around 4 -6 hours.
Conclusion
Bottom line, based on the user reviews above, some users feel disappointed with the whole aspect of Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro and are only satisfied with the clarity of 2MP camera. But the others also said that this phone is still worth buying cell phone at the mid to low-end price range.
My Recommendation
However, if you are hesitated whether to buy this phone or not, I have a much better recommendation for you. And that is Sony Ericsson W910i. I believe W910i is so much better than Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro in the whole aspect. Sony Ericsson W910i supports 2 camera, back and front camera to do video call.
W910i has also been equipped with 2 extra gaming dedicated keys on top of screen, the support of Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, 3G network, and Walkman dedicated key. Moreover, the design of W910i is so much better and elegant than Sony Ericsson W100 Spiro.
Sony Ericsson W910i is currently sold in special price around $90 at Amazon. Although the price of W910i is considerably cheap, the price doesn’t tell you the whole thing. Sony Ericsson W910i is simply the best.
